Show and Tell
by Ampersand Ellipsis
Summary: Brennen gives a presentation at Parker’s school. BB bickering and fluff.


_A/N: This is the first time I've actually had a character take off on a tangent and write itself. I really had fun recording Brennen's words and actions…I hope you like it!_

Temperance Brennen turned her head to look at her partner Seeley Booth and said, "You know Booth, I don't know why I agreed to do this. We both know I'm no good with kids. What am I going to say to them?"

Booth chuckled and looked at her. "You'll do fine Bones, OK? Don't worry about it. They'll love you."

"How could you possibly know something like that?" she inquired. "Have you done this before?"

Booth frowned at her and said, "Of course I have, Bones. Last year."

"And what did you have to do?" she asked.

"I didn't have to _do_ anything, Bones. The kids just like having someone there. They ask you questions and that's about it."

"What questions did they ask you?"

"Geez, Bones, give it a rest, will you? You'll do fine."

He looked over at his partner and realized she was really nervous. He sighed and said, "Look, I'm sorry, Bones, it's just that you'll do great with them. You can't prepare for everything. When I went I basically told them what I do for the FBI, made them some cranes because they're Parker's favorite and…"

"And…?"

"And then we went out to the jungle gym to see how many pull-ups I could do."

"How many…?"

"Pull-ups. One of the girls said I had big muscles and Parker said I could do a million pull-ups and another kid said I couldn't so the teacher took us out to see how many I could do in a minute."

Brennen raised her eyebrows and asked, "And how many did you do?"

You know what, Bones, you're asking an awful lot of questions. Look, we're already here," he said as he pulled into a parking space. "Are you ready?"

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment before nodding.

X-X-X

They were a little early, as the children were still having recess, so they had time to set up the skeleton in the classroom. When that was done, they went to the door to watch the children playing out in the yard. Booth watched Brennen as she watched the children. He could see her sizing them up and planning what she was going to say. The teacher finally rang the bell and the children all came running to the classroom.

"Daddy!" Parker yelled as he ran to his father. Booth scooped him up and tossed him into the air before catching him in a bear hug. Parker laughed wildly and gave his dad a kiss on the cheek. Then he turned to Brennen.

"Hi Dr. Brennen!" said Parker, his cheeks flushed. "Thanks for coming."

"You're welcome, Parker," said Brennen, fidgeting slightly.

Once the teacher had all the children settled into their seats, she said, "We're now going to start our Show and Tell time. Parker, would you like to go first?"

Parker jumped up and went to the front of the classroom. He smiled widely at his dad and said, "You all know my dad. This is Dr. Brennen. They're partners. She works with bones."

At this Brennen walked to the front of the class and smiled hesitantly at the children sitting in front of her. She pointed to the skeleton and said, "This is what we all look like inside…well, if we take away the skin… and the muscles, ligaments, tendons…the blood vessels and capillaries…the fat deposits and the cartilage." She looked at Booth in the back of the room running his hands through his hair. "Oh, and the hair," she added.

Booth frowned at her and shook his head, motioning for her to keep moving. Brennen nodded and continued, "There are 206 bones in the human body, although we are actually born with closer to 300 which fuse together as we grow…."

Several minutes later Brennen was still speaking, although most of the children had either put their heads down on their desks or were looking distractedly around the room. "Bones are connected to other bones at joints." She pointed at the skeleton's shoulders and hips and said, "These are ball-and-socket joints. See how the ball-shaped surface of one bone fits into the cuplike depression of another?" She then pointed to the skeleton's hands and said, "These are hinge joints where the articular surfaces are molded to each other in such a manner as to permit motion only in one plane, forward and backward." She wiggled her fingers. "See? They can only go back and forth like a hinge."

She glanced to the back of the room. Booth smiled encouragingly at her. As soon as she looked away, he checked his watch and said a desperate prayer for her.

Brennen continued. "All of these bones and joints support your body and allow you to move. They also manufacture blood cells and store important minerals. Bones are strong, but not unbreakable. For example," she pointed at a boy sitting in the second row. "You sustained a greenstick fracture to your distal radius about 5 weeks ago." The boy looked at her in utter confusion until she said, "You broke your arm."

His eyes widened and he asked, "How'd you know that?"

Brennen smiled and said, "I saw you favoring it out in the yard when you were catching the ball. Did you fall off your bike?"

His mouth fell open when she said this and he nodded mutely.

A girl in the back jumped up and said, "I broke something, too."

Brennen nodded and said, "Yes, you did. You had a supracondylar break, most likely caused by a high fall. A tree or gymnastics?"

The girl smiled widely and said, "Gymnastics. I did it last summer."

Soon each of the children were raising their hands to see if Brennen could tell them what bones they had broken and how. She successfully described both their injuries and how they received them.

The teacher stood up and said, "Alright class. We'd like to thank Dr. Brennen for coming today and telling us about our bodies. Are there any other questions before she leaves?"

Parker raised his hand and asked, "Is it true you can beat people up, Dr. Brennen?"

Brennen looked helplessly at Booth who stepped forward and said, "Uh, Parker, why don't we talk about that another time, huh?"

Parker frowned and said, "But I thought maybe she could show us, you know like you did with the pull-ups."

Booth laughed and said, "Maybe another time, Bub."

Brennen then spoke up, "Well, actually Booth, if you don't mind assisting me, I could demonstrate some basic techniques to them."

Booth laughed again and looked at the teacher. "I don't really think Ms. Rose would like that kind of violence in her classroom…."

Ms. Rose said, "To be honest Agent Booth, normally I would discourage that kind of thing, but seeing as how you and Dr. Brennen are both professionally trained, I don't see what the harm could be."

Booth cleared his throat and said, leaning over to Brennen, "Come on Bones, I don't want to hurt you in front of the kids."

Brennen bristled at this and flushed angrily. She pointed to a spot on the floor several feet from her and said, her voice shaking slightly, "Agent Booth can stand right there."

Booth reluctantly put his folder down and walked obediently to the spot. He turned to face Brennen, but didn't move. "Attack me," she whispered. He shook his head faintly. She narrowed her eyes at him and repeated the command, "Attack me." Booth sighed heavily and walked forward, his arms raised in a half-hearted attack.

Brennen twisted her right arm around his, pulled him towards her and flipped him onto his back. She put her foot on his neck as she leaned over and whispered, "Attack me for real or next time I'll hurt you."

Booth coughed and stood up as the children cheered uncontrollably. Brennen was speaking to them. "Normally you know when someone is trying to attack you because they're in front of you. The best defense is to use the leverage from the force of their attack to your advantage. But what if you're attacked from behind?" She glared at Booth before turning her back on him to await the attack.

Booth lunged at her, grabbing her neck and right arm. She twisted out from under his grasp and kneed him in the stomach. When he bent over gasping for air, she grabbed his left arm and twisted it behind him, pushing him to his knees. She leaned down to his ear and said, "That was better."

Frustrated, he knocked her off of him and stood up, straightening his jacket and tie. As she rolled off of him, she placed the front of her right foot behind his ankle and pushed him off balance with her left leg. Again he found himself laying on the floor, this time right next to her.

Under the cover of the children's cheering, he looked at her and said, "You win."

She laughed as she sat up, gave him a smug look and said, "Always."

X-X-X

"Did you enjoy yourself, Bones?" Booth asked with a grin and a wink.

Brennen smiled back and said, "I really did. Who knew children could be so much fun?"

Booth laughed as he opened the back of his SUV to unload the skeleton. Brennen reached in to pull it out, but Booth said, "No, Bones, I can get it."

She frowned and said, "Booth, I'm perfectly capable of carrying this in myself."

"I know you are, but I want to help."

"I can do it myself, Booth," she said, her voice raising in irritation.

"Why so touchy, Bones?" he asked. "I let you win, didn't I?"

"Let me win?" she asked in a dangerously calm voice.

"Well, yeah, I mean…"

His sentence was cut off abruptly due to the fact she had shoved him against his vehicle, her forearm wedged tightly under his chin. "Don't you ever tire of defending your alpha-male status?" she asked him fiercely.

He sputtered then raised his arms in a gesture of surrender. She glared at him suspiciously, but removed her arm and took a step back. He cleared his throat and said, "All I meant was that whenever I see something's important to you I want to make sure you get it---even if it means sometimes I have to sacrifice…"

"Your alpha-male status?" she interjected.

He rolled his eyes. "I was going to say 'pride,' but yeah." He grinned sheepishly at her.

She laughed at him and said quietly, "I hate to admit it, but I like knowing that you'll always back me up."

Booth looked at her intensely and whispered, "Always."

They stared at each other for a moment, each breathless, until Brennen blinked and broke the spell. "I have to get back to work," she said lamely.

"Yeah. Yeah, me, too," he said.

She gave him one more smile, pulled her skeleton out of the back of the SUV and carried it into the Jeffersonian.

He stood staring at the entrance doors for a while after they closed behind her. Finally he shook his head, jumped into his car and drove back to his office.


End file.
